Commuting 10 miles each way in LA traffic is definitely the worst commute I've ever had!
While it obviously wouldn't work for everyone, it worked for me and was more pleasurable than living in even nice parts of Brooklyn and dealing with crowded trains in the morning.
I'm not a New Yorker but I'm having a very hard time believing this. Poking around online I get the strong sense any non-roommate living space at all in Manhattan is going to be very well over $2000.
I don't like the NYC real estate market, personally it's the reason I'm most likely to leave. But I've found great places and friends of mine have found great places; places many of the other commenters say don't exist, and I found these through friends and friends of friends. The longer I've been here, the easier it has come to find places I like that I can afford because I'm not relying on points of entry most likely to be scams or misleading.
I have absolutely no idea how I'd go about finding a $1500 studio anywhere in Manhattan south of 96th street, much less in the 20s. Maybe you can find an illegal apartment in a basement with a hot plate instead of a stove or something, but that's about it.
There are people are grandfathered in to all kinds of sweetheart rent stabilized / mitchell lama / etc. deals but that takes more than having a group of friends and keeping your ears to the ground. That's the equivalent to winning the lotto.
East Village, Downtown, and Harlem were sublets I was renting while bouncing back and forth between NYC and Oklahoma while my father and mother were going through illnesses and traveling alot for work, the others I left because I wanted more space, to be closer to certain neighborhoods or because the new apt was better than the last.
None were illegal shares, none were rent controlled, one was rent stabilized, and all were very nice.
By the same token, I also don't doubt you could find a decent share where your half would be $1500 south of 96th street today, maybe even in the 20s somewhere.
Neither of those are a studio in the 20s for $1500 in 2015. If that exists, I wish I knew the secret handshake.
You can get cheaper if you go significantly towards the rivers (for example west of 10th ave) at the cost of a more industrial feel and longer walk to transit and the park. Those buildings would also be more walkups.
Perhaps you can find a deal as a roommate if you know people as one of the other posters said, but if you're looking for a whole apartment and don't have connections that's the ballpark.
Also, it's very hard to get a sense of how cheap the market goes from looking online because chances are there's a catch or the listing isn't real. NY listings tend to lie outright (1BD is actually a convertible studio, etc).
Source: lived a few blocks from Columbus Circle last year.
Everyone's definition of "poor shape" is different. I do not mind washing dishes at all; I'd rather save a hundred bucks a month in rent than have a dishwasher.
Different people, vastly different tastes, dude.
Every small town around the world spreads this weird rumor among themselves that cities are so terrible. Apparently caused by the small percentage of people who moved to a city and then later moved back. Great sample to draw on.
What if -- dense cities are extremely packed with millions of people because that's exactly what some people love? Not some convoluted tradeoff that millions of people are being forced to make by living there. What if the answer to why cities are that way is simply because people love it that way?
I do iOS dev work, so I considered SF, but maybe 20 years ago...
...and significant markup in housing costs, no?
live: http://calheights.org
Long Beach is both a great city to live in and, increasingly, a great place to work - not only if you work remotely, but if you want to work local. We have a great and growing tech scene, increasingly awesome food and drink, and a long history of arts, music and community.
PS, hi Dan! Great to run into you again (and again).
the most common complaint about LA is that it is semi-urban and there's too many houses instead of highrises.
So true. I live in a pretty ordinary SFR (that's what I wanted), but it's a trip to go to friends' houses and see what other people have been able to do.
Horse properties where you stable your horse in your back yard and go riding into the mountains that rim the city. Totally unique view houses clinging to hillsides in Hollywood. Converted warehouses with 10K SF in Frogtown by the LA River (perfect for a sculptor or a tinkerer). Properties on National Forest Service land in the forested valleys in the San Gabriels. Freaky old cabins built in the 1920s right on the edge of Elysian Park or the Arroyo Seco.
It's not the luxury or the money (I did not mention any beach houses). It's the uniqueness. If you have your nose to the ground and care about such things, you can still score one of these places on a middle-class income.
* The bus system and rail is better than many people seem to be aware -- if you live/work near a good line you can commute as quickly as an auto commuter (and sometimes quicker). Once you have to make multiple transfers or otherwise bridge a gap, speed of transportation goes down fast.
* Bicycling is possible, but the quality of bike accommodations varies widely and so does the consideration afforded cyclists.
* Real estate costs here are lower than San Francisco and New York but still far from sane for the median wage... even modest homes are often much more expensive to rent (let alone buy) than you'd think.
It's a rumor we spread to keep people from moving here. :-)
In LA, if you're going to live on side of the city & work on the other, you definitely need a car.
However, if you live near were you work, you definitely can get away without one. I've lived in Santa Monica, West Hollywood, & Pasadena (each for different jobs). I still had a car, but I tend to use it 1-2 a month, to do things like pick up friends from the airport, roadtrips to Vegas & what not.
It's definitely possible.